Fastener-setting machine



April 21, 1925. 1,534,107

P. R. GLASS FASTENER SETTING MACHINE Filed May 17, 1922 w WW7 Patented Apr. 21, 1925.

Uhll'l'hlfi STATES PERLEY n. GLASS, or WAYLAND, MASSAGE-i sn'r'rs,

earner UFFEQE,

ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MA- CHINERY 'CURPORATION, OF PATEB'SON, NEVJ JERtSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEVT JERSEY.

FASTENER-SETTENG I'JIACL'IINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PERI-AEY R. Grass, a citizen of the United States, residing at lVayland, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts have invented certain Improvements in Fastener-Setting Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a. specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to fastener-setting machines and more particularly to fastener" supplying mechanisms with which such ma chines are provided. In some resp'ectsthc invention is more particularly related to machines of the duplex type but in other respects it is related to fastener-setting machines of various types including those 01'' the duplex type. For purposes of illustration the invention is shown by the acconr panying drawings as'embodiedin a duplex eyeleting machine in which connection some of the novel features are of special utility, but in regard to those features of general utility neither theduplex aspect nor the particular type of fastener is to be regarded as limiting the invention.

Sofar as the invention relates particular ly to duplex eyeleting machines a brief discussion of prior constructions will facilitate the description that follows. Duplex eyeleting machines designed to set eyelets simultane'ously in the right and left quarters of a shoe upper are so organized thateyelets for one quarter are inserted in one direction while those for the other quarter are inserted inthe opposite direction. The inserting tools are therefore oppositely disposed in their relation to each other, and the eyelets supplied to one of them must be reversed end for end relativelyto those supplied to the other. In the majority of such machines the eyelets for both quarters are supplied by a single hopptr f om which they are conducted hy race ways. In such cases the eyelets ior both racev ays have stood in the same position at the moment of entering the rareways, that is to say, tleir flanges have rested on the bottom of the hopper and their smaller ends have been uppermost. This has necessitated forming one of the raceways with a bend or twist to reverse the position of the eyelets therein so that, on reaching the delivery ends of the raceways, those in one raceway will be inverted relatively to those in the other raceway. Suchabend Ior twist in one of the raceways hasseveral disadvantages, among which are the following, viz: it increases the cost of manufacture, it militates against the passage of the eyelets therethrough, and it requires additional space which, it many cases, involves the sacrifice of desirable features of machine organization merely toavoidinterference by such raceway.

To avoid the objectionable features of the construction outlined in the last preceding paragraph it has been proposed to providea duplex machine with two hoppers from-one of which the eyelets are conducted while standing in one position and from theother of which they are conducted while standing in a reversed position.

In view of the requirements, problemsand difliculties hereinbefore set forth an object of this invention is to provide a duplex raceway (two companion raceway's in duplex relation) in combination with a single hopper for supplying); eyelets to both sections of such raceway in such manner that the-eyelets supplied to one will be oppositely disposed relatively to those supplied to the other at the moment of entering into the receiving ends of the raceway sections, eliminating; the bend or twistthat has heretofore been necessary to reverse the positions of the eyelets of one series before they reach the inserting tools, and at the same time providing a more compact and less expensive organization than the two hopper type. The illustrated construction not only solves the problem so far as the raceways are concerned 'but provides an improved hopper having the novel features hereinafter referred to.

Another object oftheinvention is to provide improved transmission mechanism for operating the feeder by which fasteners are fed from a hopper into one or more raceways, as the case may he. Generally-spcal inc, automatic fastener-inserting marhines are operatedat speeds ranging from 250.13 FOO cycles per minute. some being operated 'the'raceway or raceways.

at still greater speeds. In such machines the operating shaft is usually provided with a pulley to drive a belt for transmitting rotation to the feeder in the hopper, but since a very slow speed of rotation 011 the part of the feeder is usually necessary, designers of such machines have been constantly confronted with the problem of reducing the speed of transmission to avoid over-speeding the feeder. Even when the driving pulley for such a belt is reduced to the smallest possible diameter and the receiving pulley is enlarged to the greatest possible diameter consistent with the proportions of the machine, it is diflicult if not impossible to obtain a sufiicient reduction to avoid overspeeding the feeder. Various forms of intermediate speed-reducing mechanism have been proposed, but they are costly from the manufacturing standpoint and cumbei some from the designing standpoint.

Accordingly a feature of this invention consists in an improved form of speed-reducing mechanism adapted to fulfill the requirements above mentioned.

Still another object of the invention is to provide improved transmission mechanism for operating the feeding device either continuously or intermittently, as may be desired. Automatic fastener-inserting machines are usually provided with a disconnectible clutch for driving the operating shaft. The receiving pulley of such a clutch rotates continuously but the operating shaft of the machine turns only when the clutch is connected. If the pulley for driving the feeder belt is fastened to the operating shaft it will operate the feeder only when the operating shaft is in motion, and in some machines the periods of activity of the feeder under such conditions are not suflicient to maintain a full supply of fasteners in On the other hand, if the pulley for driving the feeder belt rotates continuously there will be times when the feeder will tend to overcharge the raceway or raceways, as when the use of the machine is interrupted for protracted periods. At such times the feeder will, by its continuous agitating action, tumble the fasteners about in the hopper all to no purpose, not only wearing out the transmission mechanism and the feeder unnecessarily, but also marring the finish of fasteners such as japanned eyelets and lacing-hooks, fast color eyelets and lacing hooks, and other types of fasteners susceptible to injury by rubbing and scratching.

Accordingly a feature of the invention consists in the combination with an operating shaft and a disconnectible, continuously rotating element for driving such shaft, of

disconnectible transmission means arranged to transmit rotation of the fastener feeder either directly from the continuously rotating member or from the disconnectible operating shaft associated therewith, said transmission means being controllable at will so that its connection may be shifted as desired from the continuously rotating element to the intermittently driven element and vice versa.

Referring to the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a duplex eyeleting machine embodying the several features of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the upper portion of the raceway structure and includes the hopper in section;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the hopper and transmission gearing for operating the feeder in the hopper, the plane of the section being indicated by the line 3--8 of Fig.

Fig. 4 is a section through the structure intersected by line 4- of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a section through the structure intersected by line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a section through the clutch mechanism; and i Fig. 7 is an elevation of the setting tools in duplex relation about to take eyelets from the raceways.

According to the usual duplex construe tion the fastener-inserting tools 10 and 11 are arranged in alinement with each other and are movable toward and from each other. They are carried by plungers 12 and 13 respectively and are provided with spindles 14 and 15 of well-known construction and arrangement for picking eyelets from the raceways.

The raceway for the tool 10 is indicated at 16 and that for the tool 11 at 17. Eyelets are supplied to the upper ends of the raceways by a hopper 18 the bottom piece 19 of which is flat and inclined to cause the eye lets to gravitate. A rotary feeder 20 of well-known construction is arranged in the hopper, is seated on the bottom piece 19 and turns in the direction indicated by an arrow in Fig. 2. The two raceways and the hopper are fixed relatively to each other to form a detachable unit and are carried by a swinging frame 21 arranged between fixtures 22 such as bosses formed on the main frame 23 of the machine and connected to said bosses by a pivot member 24. The hopper is cylindric and is preferably arranged so that its axis coincides with that of the pivot member 2i. Suitable mechanism, shown in my copcnding application Serial No. 469,666, filed May 1%, 1921, impart-s oscillatory movement to the pivoted frame 21 for the purpose of swinging the delivery ends of the raceways to and from registra tion with the inserting tools, said mechanism being operable by the cam shaft 25 of the machine. The axis of the inserting tools is preferably inclined to facilitate manipulw.

ma se tion and observation of the work, and the axis of the raceway structure is preferably inclined in nearly, if not quite, the same way.

As shown by Fig. 7, the position of the eyelet about to be taken by the upper inserting tool is the reverse of that about to be taken by the lower tool, that is to say, the flange of the upper eyelet is at the top while that of the lower eyelet is at the bottom. The raceways are so constructed as to'conduct the eyelets in this relation from the hopper to the inserting tools, such relation being established before the eyelets leave the hopper and therefore avoiding the necessity of introducing a bendor twist into one'of the raceways, as formerly, to in.- vert the eyelets of one series relatively to. those of the other. This involves certain novel features of construction in the hopper which will now be described.

As shown by Fig. 2 the peripheral wall of the hopper has a series of outlet ports 26 each shaped to conform to the periphery of an eyelet and each arranged to emit only those eyelets that stand with their flanges on the bottom plate 19. These eyelets pass through the ports 26, are urged through the ports 26 by tufts 30 of bristles comprised in the construction of the feeder 20, and gravitate from said ports into the raceway 17 by which they are maintained so that their unclenched barrel portions extend upwardly from the flanges which slide on the bottom of the raceway.

The raceway 16, however, is supplied with eyelets whose unclenched barrel portions extend downwardly from the flanges. For this purpose the bottom. plate 19 of the hopper is provided with a slot 27 into which the depending barrel portions may drop so that the flanges at the top of such eyelets may overlap the edges of said slot and bear on the bottom plate. This slot conducts the suspended eyelets through an outlet port 28 in the peripheral wall of the hopper and leads the eyelets into the raceway 16 which constitutes a continuation of the slot 27. Although these eyelets naturally tend to pass through the outlet port 28 by gravitation, owingto the inclination of the bottom plate 19, they are urged forward by the tufts of bristles with which. the rotary feeder 20 is provided. Furthermore, the upper portion of the slot 27 is preferably curved in concentric relation to the axis of the feeder and is of considerable length so that an adequate supply of eyelets may find their way into the slot within the confines of the hopper.

The raceways may have slight bends to avoid interference with other elements of the machine organization, but whether this is or is not necessary, no bend or twist is required to invert the eyelets of one series relatively to those of the other because the hopper is so constructedthat onlythose eyelets that are correctly positioned on the bottom of the hopper for both series will pass out. This constitutes one of the novel features of this invention. Another novel feature is that a single'rotary feeder supplies both series of eyelets through separate ports leading to the .raceways, the tufts of bristles, or whatever is provided to act on the eyelets, urgingthe eyelets of oneseries through the port 28 and then urging the eyelets of the other series through the ports 26, and so on alternately.

The rotary feeder is carried by a spindle 31 journaled in the bottom of the hopper as shown by Fig. 3, said spindle having a head at its lower end. A shaft 32 is journaled in the bracket 29 in coaxial relationto the spindle 31 and has a head 33 at its upper end. The heads 31 and 33 are provided with loosely fitting cooperative tongue-and. groove formations which form a clutch or coupling to transmit rotation from the shaft to the spindle, the tongue 34, in the form shown, being formed on the head of the spindle and the groove being formed in the head of the driving shaft.

The bottom piece 19 by which the raceways and hopper are rigidly connected to form a unit is preferably detachable from the swinging frame 21 and fastened to the latter by a screw and dowels so that various raceway units may be used to replace one another according to the size and style of eyelets or other fasteners required. The couplings 34c of the several units readily go into the coupling 33 and the loose play afforded by them takes care of slight errors in machining so that they will not cause binding.

A sun gear 35 is fixed to the shaft 32, and above that a pulley 36 is arranged on the shaftbut is not fastened to the shaft, the purpose being to utilize the shaft as a mounting for the pulley and to permit the latter to rotate at high speed while theshaft is rotating at low speed. The hub of the pulley extends through a sun gear 37, which constitutes a. journal therefor, said gear having a hub extending through a portion of the frame 21 and being fixed relatively to the frame by any preferred means such as a set screw 38. The pulley carrier planet gears 39 and 40 connected by a spindle ll, the gear 39 being arranged to roll around the gear 37 in meshed relation thereto and the gear 40, being arranged to roll around the gear 35 in meshed relation. The rotation imparted to the shaft 32 depends upon the difference in diameter as between the gears and 37, wi h corresponding difference in diameter between gears 39 and 40. If the maximum reduction is desired a single tooth may represent the difference between the gears 35 and 37, and such is the case in the illustrated construction. The gear 35 has one tooth more than the gear 37, and accordingly the gear 39 has one tooth more than the gear 40. This arrangement of gearing is such that althoughthe pulley 36 may rotate at a comparatively high speed, say 800 R. P. M., the gearing will reduce the speed so that the shaft 32 will turn at the rate of say 15 or R. P. M.

A belt running over idle pulleys 43 transmit-s rotation to the pulley 36 from a driving pulley 44. This driving pulley is loosely mounted on the cam shaft which usually runs at a speed somewhere between 250 to 500 or even 600 R. P. M. Figs. 1 and 6 illustrate the well-known form of disconnectible clutch for driving the shaft 25, and the mechanism now about to be described is such that it may be used to drive the belt 42 continuously or, when preferred, only when the shaft 25 is rotating.

The disconnectible cluth for operating the machine is provided with a pulley 45 which may be regarded as a continuously rotating member. The hub of this pulley is mounted on the shaft 25 so as to turn without necessarily transmitting rotation to the shaft, the pulley being held against endshake by a collar 46 on one side and by a collar 47 on the opposite side. The collar 46 is fastened directly to the shaft but the collar 47 is fitted to the driven member 48 of the clutch. This member 48 is keyed, pinned, or otherwise fixed to the shaft, and is provided with a longitudinally movable bolt 49. One end of the bolt is adapted to engage a stud 50 projecting from the hub of the pulley 45 but is adapted to be retracted to clear the stud and thereby disconnect the pulley from the driven member 48. A compression spring 51 normally shoots the belt into driving position. A collar 52 surrounds the shaft 25 and is adapted to slide axially, the bolt being fixed to the collar so as to be retracted and controlled thereby. A flange 53 embodying a wedge formation is formed on the collar for cooperation with a controlling pin 54. For present purposes it will be sufiicient to state that the pin 54 is arranged to slide lengthwise in fixed bearings and is normally urged by a spring in the direction indicated by an arrow but may be retracted by a treadle or any other desired operating means for the purpose of tripping the clutch. This construction is more fully illustrated in United States Letters Patent 1,351,138 granted August 31, 1920, on application of R. B. Smith.

The construction shown at the right of Fig. 6 provides for connecting the pulley 44 directly to the pulley 45 or to the shaft 25, as desired. The pulley 44 is arranged to rotate on an extension 55 of the shaft 25 when the shaft is at rest. For this purpose thus constitutes the driven member of a double clutch to the end that the feeder 20 may be driven continuously by the pulley 45 regardless of periods of inactivity of the shaft 25, or it may beuncoupled from the pulley 45 and coupled to the shaft 25so as to be driven only during such periods of activity.

A hand lever 61 is provided for shifting the pulley 44 laterally from one operative position to the other. This lever is attached to a fixture 6:2 by a pivot member 63 and is provided with a finger 64 arranged in a peripheral groove 65 formed in the pulley. A spring-pressed follower 66 cooperates with a double beveled boss 67 on the finger 64 to maintain the pulley 44 in one clutched position or the other as the case may be. This follower is arranged in a socket drilled in the fixture 62.

To charge the raceways with eyelets the pulley 44 may be clutched to the continuously rotating pulley 45, and when the raceways have been sufficiently charged the handle 61 may be moved to unclutch the pulley 44 from the pulley 45 so that the belt 49. will be driven only when the machine is operating to insert eyelets in the work. If, at any time thereafter, the operative observes that the eyelets are not being fed into the raceways sufficient to maintain full charging he may again shift the pulley 44 into clutched relation with the continuously driven pulley 45, and this would soon charge the raceways to full capacity so that it would be advisable again to return the pulley 44 to the clutched relation represented by Fig. 6. This shifting of the pulley 44 may be repeated as often as necessary to maintain the full or desired quantity of eyelets in the raceway.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1., Fasten'er-supplying means comprising a hopper for containing a mass of indiscriminately arranged fasteners, and two raceways connected to said hopper and each arranged to conduct fasteners from the bottom thereof, said hopper being formed to deliver to one of said raceways only those fasteners that stand on the bottom in one predetermined position and to 'deliverto the other raceway only those/fasteners that stand on the bottom in another predetermined position.

2. Fastener-supplying means comprising a hopper for containing a mass of indiscriminately arranged fasteners, and a plurality of raceways, each arranged to conduct fasteners from the bottom of said hopper, the hopper having an outlet port communicating with one of said raceways and formed to emit only those fasteners that stand on the bottom in one predetermined position, the hopper also having an outlet port communicating with another raceway and formed to emit only those fasteners that stand. on the bottom in another predetermined position.

3. Fastener-supplying means comprising a hopper for containing a mass of indiscriminately arranged fasteners, said hopper having an. outlet port formed to emit only those fasteners that stand in one predetermined position on the bottom of the hopper, and having. another outlet port formed to emit only those fasteners that stand on said bottom in a position the reverse of that first specified, and raceways arranged to receive the emitted fasteners from said ports.

4. Fastener-supplying means comprising a hopper for containing a mass of indiscriminately arranged fasteners, said hopper having an outletport in a side wall formed to emit only those fasteners that stand in one predetermined position, and having a sepa rate outlet port partly in a side wall and partly in the bottom formed to emit only those fasteners that stand in another predetermined position, and means arranged to receive the fasteners from said ports.

A hopper for supplying fasteners from a mass of indiscriminately arranged fasteners, having separate outlet ports one of which is formed to emit only those fasteners that stand in one predetermined position and another of which is formed to emit only those that stand in another predetermined position.

6. A hopper for supplying fasteners from a mass of indiscriminately arranged fasteners, having a stationary flat bottom, a stationary upstanding wall, an outlet port in said wall formed to emit only those fasteners that stand in one predetermined position on said bottom, and an outlet comprising a channel in said bottom and a port in said wall formed to emit only those fasteners that stand in another predetermined position.

7. A hopper for supplying eyelets from a mass of indiscriminately arranged eyelets, having a stationary flat bottom, a stationary upstanding wall, an outlet port in said wall formed to emit only those eyelets whose barrels extend upwardly from their flanged ends, and an outlet comprising a port in said wall and a channel in. said bottom: leads. ing past said port, said channel being adapt: ed to receive the barrels only of those eye-. let's whose barrels extend downwardly from their flanged ends.

8. The combination with duplex eyelet-. inserting mechanism, of a hop-per for containing a mass of indiscriminately arranged eyelets, and two raceways arranged to conduct eyelets in two series from said hopper to said inserting mechanism, said hopper having an outlet port formed to supply to one of said raceways only those eyelets that stand flange end up, and having another outlet port formed to supply to the other raceway only those eyelets that stand flange end down,

9. The combination with mechanism forinserting simultaneously a plurality of fasteners in two relatively opposed or reverse positions, of a hopper for supplying such fasteners from a mass of indiscriminatelyarranged fasteners, said hopper havingoutlet ports of two kinds to emit only those fasteners that stand in two relatively o-p posed or reverse positions, and raceways aranged to conduct the fasteners from said ports to said inserting mechanism so as to preserve the opposed relation of the fasteners established at the ports. v

10. The combination with mechanism arranged to insert one eyelet flange; up and another eyelet flange down, of an eyelethopper having an outlet port arranged to emit eyelets flange up and another port arranged to emit eyelets flange down, and raceways arranged to conduct eyelets from said ports respectively to said inserting mechanism.

11. The combination with mechanism arranged to insert two fasteners in relatively reverse positions, a hopper constructed and arranged to emit from a mass of indiscriminately arranged fasteners a series of fasteners standing in one of said positions on the bottom of the hopper and a series standing in the other one of said positions on said bottom, and raceways arranged to conduct the fasteners so emitted from the hopper to said inserting mechanism.

12. The combination with fastener-inserting mechanism including a high-speed operating shaft, of fastener supplying mechanism comprising a reciprocatory carrier, a raceway and hopper carried by said carrier, a rotary device arranged to feed fasteners from said hopper to said raceway, and transmission means arranged to be Operated by said shaft to drive said feeding device and including planetary speed-reducing gearing carried by said carrier.

13. The combination with fastener-inserting mechanism including a high-speed op erating shaft, of fastenensupplying mechanism comprising an oscillatory raceway, a

hopper for fasteners, a rotary device arranged to feed fasteners from said hopper to said raceway, and transmission means arranged to be operated by said shaft to drive said feeding device and including planetary gearing arranged in coaxial relation to the axis about which said raceway oscillates and organized to reduce the speed of transmission.

14:. The combination with fastener-inserting mechanism including a high-speed operating shaft, of fastener-supplying mechanism comprising a hopper for fasteners, a raceway arranged to conduct fasteners from the hopper to said inserting mechanism, a rotary device arranged to feed fasteners from said hopper to said raceway, a rotary sun-gear and a non-rotary sun-gear of unequal diameter arranged in coaxial relation to the axis of said feeding device, a rotary carrier in coaxial relation to said axis, means arranged to transmit rotation from said shaft to said rotary carrier, a planetary unit carried by said rotary carrier and including planet-gears of unequal diameter arranged to mesh respectively with said sungears, and means arranged to transmit rotation from said rotary sun-gear to said fastener-feeding device.

15. The combination with an organization including fastener-inserting mechanism, a rotary shaft for operating said mechanism,

and a disconnectible clutch arranged on said shaft for driving the later, of a raceway arranged to supply fasteners to said inserting mechanism, mechanism arranged to charge said raceway with fasteners, and adjustable transmission means arranged to be coupled alternatively with the driving member of.

said clutch and with said shaft to operate said charging mechanism continuously or periodically as the case may be.

16. The combination with an organization including fastener-inserting mechanism, a rotary shaft for operating said mechanism, and a disconnectible main clutch arranged on said shaft for driving the latter, of means including a fastener-feeding device for sup plying fasteners to said inserting mecha nism, and transmission means arranged to operate said fastener-feeding device, said transmission means including clutch elements carried respectively by the driving member of said main clutch and by said shaft, and a shiftable clutch member arranged to becoupled alternatively with said driving member and with said shaft by said clutch elements to operate said fastener-feeding device continuously or periodically, as the case may be.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to thisspecification.

PERLEY R. GLASS. 

